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Obama, right, plays pool with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper at Wynkoop Brewing Co. on July 8, 2014, in Denver.

updated 4:20pm with Earnest comments

WASHINGTON – Even a president needs a break, and Barack Obama got to blow off some steam Tuesday night in Denver. He quaffed some beer and shot some pool with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

That didn’t sit too well with critics, including Laredo Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat whose frustration with the White House has begun to boil over, given Obama’s decision to come to Texas today and tomorrow without visiting the border.

“If he had time, with all due respect, to have a beer and play pool like he did in Colorado last night, then I think after the fundraisers he should make time to go down there,” Cuellar said on CNN in an interview with Wolf Blitzer.

Obama will meet with Gov. Rick Perry in Dallas this afternoon, along with local officials and faith leaders, to discuss the crisis of children flowing across the border illegally, many from Central America.

But that meeting, Cuellar noted, is 500 miles from the border.

“He can get on Air Force One, be there in a half an hour … right after he finishes his fundraising in Texas,” he said on Fox News.

His criticism has caught the attention of White House aides, one of whom – Cuellar wouldn’t say who – called him in an apparent and unsuccessful effort to get him to tone down the attacks. (Earlier this week Cuellar warned that Obama would be creating a “Katrina moment” – akin to President George W. Bush’s flyover of storm damage – if he came to Texas without assessing the border crisis firsthand.)

“I am more concerned not about who gets angry at me at the White House, I’m more concerned about my constituents that want to find a practical solution to this question that we are facing down there at the border,” Cuellar told Fox.

Aboard Air Force One en route from Denver to Dallas, White House press secretary Josh Earnest avoided a direct rebuttal when asked about Cuellar’s comments.

“I don’t know what is motivating the public comments we’ve seen from members of Congress,” he said, but the president’s motivation is to solve an urgent humanitarian crisis.

Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine — whose district abuts Cuellar’s, and includes about 800 miles of the Texas-Mexico border in West Texas — defended the president for skipping a visit.

“The president’s presence along the border would create an unneeded distraction by diverting law enforcement and other resources at a critical time. We don’t need photo ops, we need action. The ball is in Congress’ court to do this right,” Gallego said.

Gallego is the only seriously targeted congressional incumbent in Texas this year. At the National Republican Congressional Committee, spokeswoman Katie Prill tweaked him for coming to Obama’s defense.

“It’s troubling the Gallego can’t see past his next election and recognize that this crisis at our border is bigger than his political career,” she said. “Democrat representatives throughout the country have called on President Obama to visit the border and address this crisis but Gallego only sees this as a photo op.”

The Dallas bid has been finalized and shipped overnight to Washington, where it will be hand-delivered on Wednesday, according to the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau. It also will be uploaded electronically to the RNC. The CVB isn’t releasing details at this point, including a full list of the host committee membership or specific fund-raising targets or promises.

WASHINGTON — As Dallas finalizes its bid for the 2016 Republican convention, other cities have already stepped up.

Denver, which hosted the Democrats in 2008 when Barack Obama won the nomination — and then the presidency — is make a run at the Republicans. The city released a promo video for the bid, hosted by Gov. John Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, both Democrats. But it’s a bipartisan pitch.

“Lots of cities say they can do it. In Denver we’ve done it,” says the city’s promo video, which also features a former GOP national chairman, Jim Nicholson, and others.

View of the Rockies that stretch 150 miles! Microbrews! A third of the city Hispanics! Swing state! No mention of legalized pot, by the way.

Las Vegas' famous Strip.

Las Vegas is also making a bid. Here’s an early promo video from that city.

Bids are due at the RNC on Wednesday. Phoenix and Kansas City are competing, as are Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio.

Phoenix reportedly submitted its bid today, with retired Sen. Jon Kyl — the former deputy leader of the Senate GOP, the post now held by Texas Sen. Jonn Cornyn — co-chairing its host committee. His video pitch emphasizes the golf, and the connection with conservative icon Barry Goldwater: